Why we need to eat a balanced diet

What is a balanced diet?

A balanced diet is a one that provides a person with all seven types of nutrients in the amounts and proportions that the person needs to stay alive and be healthy.

​

The seven types of nutrients that are needed to make up a balanced diet are: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, water and fibre.

​

Teenagers between between the ages of 14 and 18 need more of these nutrients to support their bone growth, hormonal changes and organ and tissue development.

​

Balanced diets give teens the energy that they need. Teenagers need more energy than children. Teenage girls need more energy than adult women, or even pregnant women, and teenage boys need more than adult men. But it is also important to have an "energy balance" and to balance how much we take in and how much we use in growing and doing our daily activities.

​

Teens can have many difficulties in getting a balanced diet that provides all seven types of nutrients in just the right proportions and quantities.

​

Why it's so difficult to have a balanced diet

Today, there are many reasons for teenagers to develop imbalanced diets.

 

First, many teens skip breakfast, which is an important meal of the day because it comes after several hours of not eating, and therefore not getting any energy to fuel our bodies. Teens skip breakfast because they are running late for school and don't have time to eat or because they are simply not hungry in the morning. Not eating can make teens feel tired and have difficulties concentrating on their classes.

 

In today's world, teenagers have to deal with a lot of images of people with body forms which are defined in the media as "perfect". Sometimes these images are changed to make models and celebrities look more perfect, but teens still compare themselves to these images. To try to look like these idealized images, teens can go on diets that can be dangerous and unhealthy.

​

There are also some people who do not have access to healthy foods. There are some places, in inner cities, where there are no fruit & vegetables stands or any fresh food available. The only accessible food is fast food or small markets with unhealthy processed food. These places are called food deserts. This results in unhealthy, imbalanced diets that can lead to more health problems.

​

Another reason that it can be difficult to maintain a balanced diet is that teenagers, similar to other people, like sugar, fats and salt in their foods. Foods with these ingredients taste good, even if they aren't good for us. Some processed foods contain a lot of sugar or chemicals that make us crave them more. McDonalds uses sugar in a lot of its foods, which can make people eat their food more. They also add to their fries what they call "natural beef flavoring', which is really a combination of hydrolised wheat and milk, which are chemically broken down with water. These chemicals make people want to eat more fries. In addition, certain advertisements for other foods claim that their foods are healthy, but in fact, these foods may be very processed and contain many ingredients that are unhealthy. Eating unhealthy foods with a lot of sugar, salt, and fat can also lead to more severe health problems in the future, including obesity and diabetes.

​

Sometimes teens want to be vegetarian or vegan because they love animals,because they want to protect the environment, or because they think that it is healthier. All of these are valid reasons, but it can be hard to eat enough protein or iron when you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet.

​

Food intolerances, allergies and auto immune diseases can make keeping up a balanced diet very difficult. There are certain foods that some teenagers (adults too) cannot digest. Some common allergies can be lactose intolerance (milk intolerance) and Coeliac (gluten intolerance), but there are many more. Teens who cannot eat milk or gluten may have to find other substitutes, and this can be challenging sometimes.

​

 

​

 

 

​